


light of the moon

by chilipepperconverse



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Bittersweet, Canonical Character Death, Cliche, Grieving, It makes sense I swear, Other, VERY cliche i will say this now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:21:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23341642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chilipepperconverse/pseuds/chilipepperconverse
Summary: Shuichi’s been taking piano lessons.(chapter 1 spoilers)
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede/Saihara Shuichi
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	light of the moon

**Author's Note:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
> 
> ok so  
> just started drv3, love it so far, would die for shuichi, anyways.
> 
> i whipped this up after coming up with this lil headcanon that post-game shuichi teaches himself how to play the piano!! but to make it fun and add to the whole scene i threw in some other dr characters :>
> 
> enjoy!!! 💙

He patted down the pockets of his coat, making sure everything was there. Keys, wallet, phone. He didn’t think twice about grabbing the hairclip from his desk when he noticed it wasn’t there. Slipping the charm into his pocket, he grabbed his bag and set out the door.

Shuichi had been taking piano lessons. 

It wasn’t as symbolic or heart-wrenching now as it had been two years ago. He didn’t sit at the bench and immediately start trembling. By now, his weekly lessons were just a part of everyday life. Another slot of time in his schedule of classes and work. She was always in the back of his mind during them, though. Of course she was. 

Ibuki opened the door with a wide grin before Shuichi could even knock. 

“Hey kid!” she said with a wave of her arm, inviting him inside. “You’re here early!”

Shuichi blinked with surprise as his instructor snatched the coffee he brought her out of his hand. “Am I?”

Ibuki was an odd teacher, to say the least. She shouted every word and was seemingly fluent in every instrument under the sun. Shuichi probably would have never said a word to her if his roommate hadn’t introduced the two of them. After all, criminology and music majors don’t exactly overlap. But underneath the chaos, Ibuki was both patient and kind, so over time Shuichi found her wild presence more and more comforting. 

“Okay, Shoes,” Ibuki slammed her coffee down and clapped her hands. “We still doin’ the usual?”

Shuichi nodded and pulled out the music book he’d been using. There was one sticky note peeking out from the top. He wasn’t entirely sure, but Shuichi thought he saw a glimpse of comedic exhaustion in Ibuki’s eyes. So far, this was the only song he’d put real effort into learning, aside from simple scales and exercises, and she was probably getting tired of hearing the same tune. 

They always had lessons in the living room, where instruments lived alongside a wall of books and a myriad of sports equipment Shuichi couldn’t have identified with a gun to his head. He ran through the piece a few times, always reveling in how it sounded on an actual piano and not through his headphones. 

At one point, Ibuki’s elusive roommate came out and complained about the noise. Shuichi counted at least three separate writing utensils sticking out of her braided hair in the time it took him to apologize. Ibuki teased her roommate playfully, but rolled her eyes and sighed as soon as she was gone. 

“Y’know, you’ve got this one pretty solid!” She chattered, leaning on the side of the piano. “I think you’re ready for somethin’ a little more upbeat!” 

Ibuki pranced to the bookshelf and crouched to reach the bottom row, where a stack of music books rested atop a bookshelf. The book she handed him— “Modern Music for the Piano”— had bright colors and a stock photo collage of people playing pianos emblazoned on the front. Shuichi found himself clutching at his own book, as if Ibuki was going to take it from him.

The musician cocked her head. “Do you just wanna stick to classical stuff?”

Shuichi pursed his lips. He couldn’t bring himself to say anything. 

Ibuki stared into him, the gears in her head almost audibly turning. Still, she jested with him, popping out her hip and resting a hand on it.

“Now don’t tell me you learned the piano to only play one song!”

Shuichi looked down, fully aware of the shame spreading across his face. “Um...”

“Well, that’s usually how it starts!” Ibuki dropped to her knees to face Shuichi, her face alight with encouragement. “But just ‘cause you’ve learned that song doesn’t mean you should stop tryin’!”

She got up and retrieved a different book. “You gotta feed that skill! Otherwise, how’re you gonna improve?”

This one had a simple cover of a close-up of sheet music, headed with the title: “Classical Piano for Beginner to Intermediate Players.” Shuichi took it, carefully leafing through the pages and seeing a senseless amalgamation of dots and stems. Any song other than the one he knew looked like alien writings, with virtually nothing to tie him to it. Still, Ibuki’s words echoed in his head. They sounded a lot like something Kaede would say. 

“I... think you’re right,” Shuichi said finally, pressing the books together decisively. “Thanks for the push.”

After he paid her, Ibuki mentioned something else. 

“Don’t you have a keyboard? I think you should invest in one! That way you can practice way more! Plus they usually have those really fun synth settings where you-”

Shuichi didn’t tell her he bought one at a thrift store three days after the accident. He didn’t tell her that he had pounded away at the keys for months, rejoicing when even a single note sounded right. He didn’t tell her that the reason he learned the song so fast was that he had already been trying to teach it to himself for nearly a year. She didn’t have to hear all of that.

“And a lot of them- Oh shoot!” Ibuki squeaked. She was holding her phone and looked panicked. “Tenko‘s are on her way home! I don’t wanna kick you out, but she reeaaallly doesn’t like having guys here.” 

Shuichi frowned. “But... we’re not-”

“I knoooow, but she wouldn’t believe me!” Ibuki groaned. She opened the door and swept Shuichi out into the hallway. “Seeya next week, my man! Remember your homework!”

“Wait, there’s h-” Shuichi started, but the door was closed already. He sighed, shook his head with a chuckle, and made his way back to his car.

Once in the driver’s seat, the weight of what he was doing fell over him. He’d made it. He could finally do what he set out to do two years ago. 

It wasn’t a surprise that he was ready— Shuichi had contemplated going ahead and doing it for a few weeks now— but he had wanted to hear that he was ready to, just for peace of mind. Ibuki wasn’t the type to just tell people what they want to hear, so her word was as good as gold. 

Shuichi tossed his bookbag into the backseat and sped home with newfound purpose. The sun was getting low in the sky and he was determined to beat it.

He didn’t slow down when he pulled in the driveway. Both Kyoko and Makoto were in the living room, buried in their textbooks and ignoring the muted television. They didn’t notice Shuichi was there until Hajime greeted him from the kitchen. Shuichi let out a breathless “hey” to his roommates as he rushed back to his room. 

The keyboard was surprisingly light, even when stuffed inside its bulky carrying case that Shuichi slung over his shoulder. He opened up the old music book, debating on whether or not he should take it with him. The first page was instinctual at this point, Shuichi’s fingers already tracing the notes like the little heart he’d drawn on the sticky note. He was sure he could play the song from memory, but he stuffed it into the case anyway.

“Where you going, Shuichi?” Hajime asked. He stood at the stovetop, already starting to make dinner. Shuichi hadn’t seen his roommate’s girlfriend, sitting on the floor with her back against the cabinets. She looked up from her Switch just long enough to give Shuichi a small wave.

He grabbed a granola bar from the pantry and looked around nervously. “I’m... gonna go visit Kaede.”

Hajime nodded. “I’ll save some food for you.”

“Thanks,” Shuichi sighed with relief. He got to the door and waved goodbye, saying he’d be back in an hour or so.

The sun was getting lower still. Shuichi set the keyboard down in the backseat of his car and started driving. Trees and buildings alike stretched far and wide around him, widening the distance like in a dream. His heart raced as he pulled into the empty parking lot.

Doubt clouded his head as he saddled himself with the keyboard case.  _ What if I just look stupid? This kind of thing is only inspiring when someone’s good at it. I’m trying too hard . _

But imagining how proud she would be kept his feet marching forward, across the grassy field of headstones. 

He knew the path to Kaede like it had been burned into his eyelids. Shuichi had been coming here for two years now, but his visits had always been brief. Talking to a grave wasn’t like talking to his best friend, his partner, his everything. She was always the more talkative one, and now she could only listen. That hit Shuichi like a train every time he visited her, with no words big enough or the right shape to fit his feelings into. But now, he didn’t have to talk either. 

His pace slowed as he came upon the aisle where Kaede rested. Now was usually the time when he remembered their last few days together, but his heart was beating so fast that it only gave him the worst one. It was late at night, early spring. They went to the park earlier that day. Kaede’s friend Rantaro was coming back from break. His flight got in later than expected. She went to pick him up from the airport. Someone drove on the wrong side of the road. Neither of them made it back.

Shuichi shut his eyes tight and tried to think about the way Kaede looked on the picnic blanket, sheet music scattered around her but her gaze in the trees above them. Her eyes were always so gentle. Whenever Shuichi thought about her, one of the first things to enter his mind was how fondly she looked at everything, like every object or creature in the world had her whole heart. 

Somehow he still felt that warmth in his own, even here and now as he approached her. The headstone was simple marble, not gleaming and not dull. In front of it were the wilted flowers Shuichi had left here last week. In spite of how often he did this, saying the first few words was always a challenge. He cleared his throat and sighed, his breath condensing in a short-lived cloud that drifted up and out of sight.

“H-hey, Kaede,” Shuichi stammered. He pulled his beanie over his ears, which were starting to sting already, and chuckled to himself. “I hope you don’t mind if I keep my hat on.”

The headstone said nothing but Kaede’s name. Shuichi took a deep breath.

“Okay. So, you know how much I miss you. I’m still carrying this around.” He fished her music note hairclip out from his coat pocket and held it out. 

“I actually started holding onto this cause I started to work on this, uh.... This surprise for you,” he said, storing the clip and taking the carrying case off his back. “I guess it’s not a huge shock, but heregoes.”

Setting himself down so he was next to the headstone, Shuichi opened the case and brought out the keyboard and switched it on. Already,  _Clair de Lune_ was playing in his head. All he had to do was follow along.

Every note had given him so much trouble in the two years the melody took to learn. But now each time he pressed the keys down, the next followed with all the grace he could manage. He smiled, realizing how naturally he could form every chord, or follow every string of eighth notes like a staircase.

The first time he’d heard  _Clair de Lune_ was the night after the two of them graduated high school, when he had called Kaede in the middle of a panic attack, and she played this song for him over the phone. All the mounting fears he had tumbled away in that moment, washed over and reduced to pebbles beneath waters of calm and contentment. 

Now, Shuichi sat cross-legged next to a grave, watching the sun set over the skeletal trees. And as the sun’s light faded from view, the half-moon overhead grew brighter, casting soft light that glittered across Kaede’s tombstone. 

The last note hung in the air, no sounds of insects or nearby birds to mask it. Shuichi leaned over and rest his head against the cold rock slab, desperate not to grapple with how many mistakes he must have made.

“Did you like it?” he whispered. His cheeks stung, and Shuichi realized he had been crying.

The gravestone was silent, but Shuichi felt something heat up in his chest. 

_Yes, I LOVED IT!!!_

He smiled and let the tears keep coming. 

**Author's Note:**

> hoohoo told u that was cliche bullshit but its ok cause i had fun writing it and hopefully u enjoyed reading it?
> 
> thinkin’ i’ll maybe set some more fics in this AU in the future, cause trying to figure out how theyd all interact was real fun!!
> 
> tell me whatchu think!! comments motivate me to write more, and i’ll hopefully have time to now that my classes are all online!
> 
> thanks for reading dears!! 🥰


End file.
